During the 2017-2018 academic year, 28 percent of CEE at Illinois undergraduate students were women. For Mary Thelma Miller, the situation was much different. In the civil engineering graduating class of 1933, Miller was the lone woman. It was fifteen years before another woman followed in her footsteps, and in the 36 years between 1933-1969 there were only 16 women total who earned degrees from the department. It didn't take long for this number to rapidly increase. From 1970-1979, there were approximately 100 women who earned degrees; in the 80's, the number of women graduates exceeded 300; and the numbers have continued to grow.
The Winter 2018 and Summer 2018 issues of CEE Magazine featured some of these early women, as well as a few other alumnae along the way. Many of these stories have been transferred to the CEE website, and we invite you to visit: Early Women of CEE and get to know some of our earliest alumnae.